Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Order not applicable to defect-free buildings of educational institutions built before November 2011: Madras HC

Granting the relief while passing orders on the petitions, Justice Raja also clarified that if any building is constructed even prior to enforcing Sec.

Published: 15th January 2019 06:43 AM 



Madras high court (File photo | PTI)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has made it clear that the buildings of schools or colleges constructed before November 1, 2011, that is, prior to the introduction of Sec. 47-A to the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 and after obtaining valid and lawful permission from the competent authorities, would not come under the purview of the GO, dated June 14, 2018, of the Housing and Urban Development department.


Justice T Raja gave the clarification while passing final orders on a batch of writ petitions from the Association of All India Private Educational Institutions, represented by its general secretary K Palaniappan of Saligramam and others, recently.

The petition from the Association sought to declare the June 14 GO and the consequential letters of the directors of Town and Country Planning and School Education departments, as illegal and unconstitutional and passed without legislative sanction.

As per the amendment made in 2018 to Sec. 47 of the 1971 Act, Sec. 47-A was introduced and it had become the duty of the local authority granting permission to any development on any land in the non-plan area to obtain prior concurrence of the director under the 1971 Act. As a result, the approval for the buildings, even in the non-plan area under the control of the local authority, is also subjected to the permission to be obtained by the local authority.


Granting the relief while passing orders on the petitions, Justice Raja also clarified that if any building is constructed even prior to enforcing Sec. 47-A, that is, before November 1, 2011, leaving any deficiencies to be rectified and not carried out even today, such buildings will be covered by the GO. In any event, if the three months’ time given in the GO had already expired, the Town and Country Development director is entitled to take appropriate action against all those buildings, which had not obtained planning permission and which were put up even prior to November 1, 2011 and whose deficiencies were not rectified till November 2, 2011.

Lastly, in respect of the one-time levy and collection of `7.50 per sq.ft. on the FSI/plinth area of the buildings, the judge said that if any application is made during the relevant period, that is, before the expiry of the three months, the T&CP director shall consider the same to grant the benefits, quashed the June 14 GO and all other consequential letters and allowed the writ petitions with the observations and directions.



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